S&P says South impeachment does not affect credit fundamentals www.reuters.com

Ceremony marking Olympic stadium construction www3.nhk.or.jp

Iron ore soars past $80 a tonne www.mining.com

Qantas to fly from London to Australia non-stop www.bbc.com

Non-OPEC countries agree to cut oil production by 558,000 barrels per day www.rt.com

Non-OPEC countries agreed to cut oil production by 558,000 barrels per day (b/d) during a meeting with members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna.
Among the non-OPEC participants at the meeting were 12 oil exporting countries – Azerbaijan, Oman, Mexico, Sudan, South Sudan, Bahrain, Malaysia, Equatorial Guinea, Bolivia, Kazakhstan and Russia.

The 558,000 b/d figure was voiced by Qatar's energy minister at a press conference following the six hour long talks.

OPEC members also confirmed their commitment to the plan to reduce the oil supply by 1.2 million b/d. This, together with the commitments made by non-OPEC states, would lead to the total reduction of oil production by about 1.7-1.8 million b/d, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said at the press conference.

Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih told the press conference that 2017 would be a “good year” for the global oil market.

The parties to the negotiations also agreed to form a special group to monitor the observance of the agreement both by the OPEC and non-OPEC countries. The group would consist of three OPEC members and two non-OPEC countries, Novak said.

"This agreement cements and prepares us for long-term cooperation," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters after the meeting, calling the deal "historic".

"Today's deal will speed up the oil market stabilisation, reduce volatility, attract new investments," Novak said.

The deal became the first such agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC countries since 2001. In April, OPEC and Russia tried to reach a deal on oil production which was cut during negotiations in Doha, but failed to come to an agreement, as Saudi Arabia sunk the deal at the last moment.

OPEC made a decision to cut its own output on November 30.

Following the decision, Saudi Arabia informed its customers in Europe and North America that it would cut its oil supply in January. According to PIRA Energy Group chairman Gary Ross, buyers of Saudi oil were informed that Riyadh wants to cut its production by 486,000 b/d to just over 10 million.

UAE then followed suit and also announced that it would take similar action.

While some non-OPEC countries are also expected to cut their oil production in January, others have said they might wait until October.

OPEC’s November decision put an end to the ’pump-at-will’ policy the group has conducted since 2014, which sent oil prices down from $100 a barrel to less than $50 a barrel. Now, both OPEC and non-OPEC oil exporters are trying to push prices up.

The market reacted to the November move with rising oil prices, which went up by 17 percent after the group announced its decision. The prices continued to go up on Friday amid speculation that non-OPEC countries would agree to cuts.

The projected reduction in oil production amounting to up to 1.8 billion b/d, that is set to follow the Saturday agreement and OPEC's November decision, would account for about two percent of the current global oil supply.

China suspends coal imports from N.Korea www3.nhk.or.jp

The Chinese government announced it is suspending coal imports from North Korea for the rest of the year in line with the latest UN sanctions against Pyongyang. The trade has been the country's main source of revenue.

Trump & Boeing: It's not about Air Force One, it's about China www.cnn.com

Boeing executives were blindsided by Donald Trump's Tuesday comments about the cost of Air Force One, but those weren't the tweets that worried America's largest exporter.
Many former and current Boeing executives say they're far more worried about Trump's antagonism toward China, the largest and most important growth market for the crown jewel of American manufacturing.
"The vulnerability to China is pretty clear," said one former senior Boeing executive.
In contrast to the long term stakes over Boeing's future in China, the flap over the cost of Air Force One lasted 24 hours.
Boeing would be a prime target in any retribution by China if Trump follows through on his campaign threat to impose a hefty tariff on Chinese imports.
A shift of orders to Airbus would likely cause a rippling drop in output for Boeing, a loss of jobs, and, crucially, a loss of market share that would give Airbus the ability to lower prices and win other deals.
One-quarter of the nearly 500 Boeing 737 jets delivered in 2015 went to Chinese airlines, serving a fast-growing middle class that's as large as the entire U.S. population. The market is worth a trillion dollars over the next 20 years.
Everyday, Boeing's factories are filled with colorful jets for Chinese airlines that Americans won't recognize: Xiamen, 9 air, Donghai, Ruili, Hainan, Hebei, Shandong and Shenzhen.
Boeing eyes China focus with new sales chief
Starting with the unexpected congratulatory phone call with the President of Taiwan in the days that preceded the Air Force One tweet, Trump upended decades of U.S. foreign policy that tiptoed around the nation's relationship with Taiwan.
The worry among current and former Boeing leaders is that increased antagonism toward China on trade or an even closer diplomatic posture toward Taiwan may have consequences for U.S. businesses - and Boeing has the most to lose.

"I think it's all uncharted waters," said one Boeing customer who rents planes to China. In trying to interpret Trump, "I think we're going to get it wrong for a while."
Boeing is no stranger to being caught in the middle of diplomatic tensions. A Boeing loss of a 2013 fighter deal in Brazil was largely attributed to leaked revelations that the U.S. had spied on the Brazilian president. U.S. and European sanctions on Russia in 2014 also threatened to disrupt the supply of Russian titanium used on Boeing's jetliners.
"China is a different ballgame," said the former executive and orders are very sensitive to geopolitics. The U.S. has a "very delicate tightrope to walk and not impact our ability to sell."
Boeing's position in the U.S. economy is without parallel. No other big company enjoys its unrivaled domestic monopoly status. It hasn't had a U.S. competitor since 1997 and the battlefield on which it fights European Airbus and a cadre of ascending players is global.
China to spend $1 trillion on 6,810 new aircraft
Traditionally, the President of the United States has been Boeing's biggest booster at home and abroad.
"I deserve a gold watch, because I'm selling this stuff all the time," President Obama told Boeing workers in 2012. "I will go anywhere in the world to open up new markets for American products."
And Obama has. Big Boeing orders have featured prominently as part of state visits between China and the U.S.
China has bet roughly equally on new airliners from Europe and the U.S. to build its airlines. At the same time, China is cultivating its own commercial airliner industry to one day compete with Boeing and Airbus.
Want to earn $300,000 tax free? Try flying a plane in China
Expanding manufacturing in a hot market is a hallmark of the global aerospace business. In the coming years, Boeing plans to open a facility near Shanghai to install airline cabins inside of 737s for China's airlines. Airbus already assembles competing A320 jets in China and recently opened a similar plant in the U.S.
Boeing has long said that it isn't opening final assembly plants outside the U.S. and the China facility and its plans there support thousands of jobs stateside with the increasing orders.
No date for its opening has been disclosed.

Trade probes into Chinese steel up year-on-year: official www.chinadaily.com

BEIJING - Chinese steel saw more trade remedy probes during the first 11 months of 2016 than the previous year, an official said on Friday.

Hitachi rolls out 1st train car at British factory www3.nhk.or.jp

Japanese electronics firm Hitachi has rolled out the first train car assembled at its factory in northern Britain.

Microsoft plans to win VR race www.chinadaily.com.cn